If an inspector or your hauler has told you the trap needs replacing, find out first whether the damage can be repaired. Most traps can be, overnight and typically for under half the cost of replacement. If yours can’t, we install new traps as well.
The Austin rule behind this
Austin doesn’t let a new grease trap be installed without approval first. Before it’s bought, the project needs building plan approval and an Industrial Waste approval letter setting the trap’s required size and design. Austin Water warns that buying before approval creates a risk of rejection and replacement costs.
What a new trap adds that a repair doesn’t
Replacing an in-ground trap means construction and excavation work to put the new one in, on top of the approval and sizing steps above. And the old trap doesn’t just come out: Austin Water has a formal abandonment procedure for a grease trap taken out of service.
A repair works on the trap you already have. It keeps its footprint, and the work happens overnight.
Repair or replace?
Replacing a grease trap vs. repairing it, in full
| Repairing it | A new trap | |
|---|---|---|
| Before any work | A free on-site inspection | Building plan approval and an Industrial Waste approval letter, before the trap is bought |
| Trap size | The trap you already have | Sized from the kitchen’s fixture units; nothing under 100 gallons is approved |
| What you pay | Typically under half the cost of replacement | A new trap, plus the work of taking out the old one and putting in the new |
| Your kitchen | Stays open: the repair happens overnight | For an in-ground trap, construction and excavation work |
| The inspection | Guaranteed to pass | Held to the same Austin rules |
| After the work | A 10-year warranty covering labor and materials, as long as the trap gets regular pump-outs | Ask what warranty comes with the new trap |
| The old trap | Stays, repaired | Goes through Austin Water’s abandonment procedure |
When replacement is the right call
Holes, cracks, corrosion and a broken baffle wall are damage, and most traps with that damage can be repaired. Replacement becomes the right call when a trap no longer meets Austin’s sizing rules for the kitchen it serves, or when the inspection shows it can’t be saved. In those cases, we install the new trap.
Grease trap installation in Austin
Failed an inspection? What to do now
Questions about replacing a grease trap in Austin
Is repair always cheaper than replacement?
Not always, but typically. We don’t publish prices: a repair depends on the size of the trap and the amount of damage, and it’s typically under half the cost of replacing the trap.
What if the trap really does need replacing?
Then we install a new one. In Austin, that starts with building plan approval and an Industrial Waste approval letter, before the new trap is bought.
Does a repaired trap still meet Austin’s rules?
The repaired trap is guaranteed to pass inspection. Meeting Austin’s rules the rest of the way, with pump-outs on schedule, records kept and grease under the limit, stays the restaurant’s own responsibility.
Damaged trap in Austin? Call before you replace it.
(512) 801-4131. Open 24/7.